'CHANNEL/DANCE: AN EVENING OF MOVEMENT, ART AND THEATER' Comes to Atlantic Wharf This Weekend

CHANNEL/DANCE : an evening of movement, art and theater; co-presented by Fort Point Theatre Channel and Contrapose Dance. Performances run today, February 13, & Saturday, February 14, at 8 pm. Free and open to all.

Due to limited seating, reserving advance tickets recommended. Waterfront Square@Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress St., Boston. For general information, www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org, 617.750.8900; for advance tickets, call 800.838.3006 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1068967.

The CHANNEL/DANCE collaboration falls on both Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day, which bodes well for good luck and very congenial vibes between Fort Point Theatre Channel and Contrapose Dance. Ten of Boston's adventurous choreographers team up with painters, photographers, playwrights, and other artists to create short movement works with imaginative and far-reaching visual and audio impact. Add the ingredients of a half-dozen of the briefest of movement-themed plays, and the result is an invigorating performance experience that delights with its unpredictable twists and turns.

Fort Point Theatre Channel (FPTC) and Contrapose Dance, under the guidance of co-curators Marc S. Miller and Courtney Peix, have assembled eight teams, each joining choreographers with artists from non-dance disciplines, to collaborate in inventing performance works of under seven minutes each. Juxtaposed with these movement pieces, the evening features six new plays, each less than two minutes long. Selected from 80 submissions received from playwrights around the world, each has a connection to dance.

This collaboration with Contrapose Dance is the thirteenth in FPTC's Exclamation Point! series presenting short new works. Themes of previous EP!s have ranged from Bohemians (EP! 12) and Fort Point Films (EP! 10) to Humour Us (EP! 9), Masks (EP! 8), and The Science of Love (EP! 5). Always surprising and exciting, the Exclamation Point! series is guided by the eclectic talents of tastes of FPTC's 15 artistic directors. For more on Exclamation Point!, see www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org/index.

CHANNEL/DANCE : an evening of movement, art and theater is presented free, thanks to the generosity of FPTC's donors, including Boston Properties and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Hints of What to Expect:
(* artists online links are provided where available)

Courtney Peix (Contrapose Dance) and Daniel J. van Ackere:
Under a canopy of white, dancers will perform on a platform embedded with LED lighting, echoing Starry Night, a permanent Fort Point installation created by van Ackere and Lisa Greenfield.
www.contraposedance.com
www.danielvanackere.com

Mariah Steele (Quicksilver Dance) and Anne Loyer:
In manipulating Loyer's wearable sculptures, Steele and dancers will explore the idea of networks, both natural and technological.
www.quicksilverdance.com
www.nervegarden.com

The Wondertwins (Billy & Bobby McClain) and Nick Thorkelson:
The dancers moving in concert with Thorkelson's animation will suggest robots programmed (badly) by an engineer who's been watching too much television.
www.facebook.com/bobby.mcclain.92?fref=ts
www.nickthorkelson.com

Audra Carabetta (Audra Carabetta & Dancers) and Olivia Brownlee:
The theme is coming and going as the collaborators flip the traditional way of creating a movement piece, with Brownlee's music created to match Carabetta's choreography.
www.audracarabetta.com/choreography.html
www.oliviabrownlee.com

Kelley Donovan (Kelley Donovan & Dancers) and Mark Warhol:
To the accompaniment of Warhol's solo music for clarinet, Donovan and dancers will develop a dance that investigates the internal world of transformation.
www.kddcompany.wordpress.com
www.markwarhol.net

Nicole Pierce (EgoArt, Inc.) and Rick Dorff:
Balloons held aloft by helium create Dorff's environment for Pierce's dance performance.
www.egoartinc.com

Maggie Foster, Caitlyn Schrader, Silvia Graziano, and Douglas Urbank:
The collaborators are working on the subject of social norms of feminine idealism. The performance will include an audio recording, an accompanying text, and film projection.
www.douglasurbank.com

Annie Kloppenberg (Annie Kloppenberg & Co.) and Peter Agoos:
Ideas under development.
www.anniekloppenberg.com
www.agoos.com

PLUS: Six very, very short plays, directed by Jaime Carrillo, Amelia Lumpkin, and Cait Robinson.

The plays are:

- Cherry Pierogis, by Kelli Burton (New York) centers of the long-ago memory of a treasured evening;
- Dancing the Constellations, by Greg Vovos (Ohio) joins a man who doesn't believe he can fly with a woman who knows she can;
- Expressionism, by Katelyn Beaudoin (Massachusetts) introduces two people to the joys of dancing anywhere-even the subway;
- Interpretation, by Mary Driscoll and Forrest Walter (Massachusetts) pairs a middle-aged former gay disco dancer with a haughty and tired successful theatre director;
- Lift Up Your Crazy Legs, by B.W. Shearer (Australia) asks, "Must we dance?" and answers, "Is there any choice?";
- Pinpoint Wisdom, by Joan Leotta (North Carolina) imagines the encounter of a jogger with dancers on a very small stage.

Contrapose Dance (www.contraposedance.com) - Contrapose Dance was founded in 2008 by artistic director Courtney Peix out of a desire to present new, exciting, and entertaining works that engage and thrill audiences. This Cambridge-based repertory company presents modern, contemporary, and balletic works and aims to bring a continued fresh energy to the theater scene by commissioning innovative works, collaborating with unique artists, and producing high-quality dance art. It is through these commissions that Contrapose Dance actively expands its completely original repertory, working with emerging and established choreographers including David Parker (NY), Sydney Skybetter (NY), Marcus Schulkind (MA), Gianni Di Marco (MA), and Heidi Rood (Canada).

To date, Contrapose has participated in fifty+ performances and has twenty-five original works in its unique repertory. The company has received funding from the Somerville Arts Council and the National Science Foundation and was awarded the Boston Center for the Arts Dance Residency. Ultimately, Contrapose Dance hopes to bring a new generation of dance lovers along with us to a place where tradition and originality meet.

Fort Point Theatre Channel (FPTC) (www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org) - Fort Point Theatre Channel is dedicated to creating and sustaining new configurations of the performing arts. FPTC brings together an ensemble of artists from the worlds of theater, music, visual arts, and everything in between as a forum for collaborative expression while enriching the Fort Point community, Boston, and beyond. FPTC serves as an anchor for the Fort Point arts community, but also enjoys presenting their material in various venues throughout the city.

FPTC artistic directors are: Mario Avila, Olivia Brownlee, Jaime Carrillo, Rick Dorff, Mary Driscoll, Ian W. King, Anne Loyer, Marc S. Miller, Sally Nutt, Hana Pegrimkova, Nick Thorkelson, Nathan Troup, Douglas Urbank, Daniel J. van Ackere, and Mark Warhol.

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